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Amazon to close Book Depository online shop

theguardian.com

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Re: Amazon to close Book Depository online shop

#41

Post by user-4-4-2023 »

activitypea wrote: post #18

There are no words for how much this sucks. If you are outside the US/EU, reasonably priced books in english aren't easy to find. CompSci literature in English? Forget it, buddy. Book Depository had decent prices with free international shipping to most of the world. Sure, I have to wait a month and sometimes they have to reship because it got damaged in transport, but if I need a book immediately Library Genesis is…

+100

I'm really pissed off. I live in Europe outside EU and this is the most convenient way to get books in English. Often a translated book does not exist here at all, so Book Depository was a blessing in these situations.

Seems like nothing is sacred to the corporate quarterly reports. If a corporation made a little less profit this year compared to the last one (did not have losses!), it apparently justifies shutting down an online book store that ships a ton of titles at reasonable prices with free shipping to 160 countries in the world!

Re: Amazon to close Book Depository online shop

#43

Post by ssijak »

Hamuko wrote: post #19
Aissen wrote: post #14

They are often cheaper than Amazon in the marketplace, and have a very good reputation. A bit of shame :-/

They also deliver worldwide for free. Meanwhile ordering a 13.18€ book from Amazon.de will incure 9.85€ in postage because my closest Amazon is an entire Baltic Sea away. (Well, technically Amazon.de has free deliveries too – you just need to buy order at least 99€ worth of them at once)

"They also deliver worldwide for free.". They calculate shipping in the price. So depending on where you are you will see different price of the book. Still, the only option to get many english books shipped to a big part of the world.

Re: Amazon to close Book Depository online shop

#44

Post by electroagenda »

activitypea wrote: post #18

There are no words for how much this sucks. If you are outside the US/EU, reasonably priced books in english aren't easy to find. CompSci literature in English? Forget it, buddy. Book Depository had decent prices with free international shipping to most of the world. Sure, I have to wait a month and sometimes they have to reship because it got damaged in transport, but if I need a book immediately Library Genesis is…

What about abebooks?

Re: Amazon to close Book Depository online shop

#45

Post by Hamuko »

ssijak wrote: post #43
Hamuko wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They also deliver worldwide for free. Meanwhile ordering a 13.18€ book from Amazon.de will incure 9.85€ in postage because my closest Amazon is an entire Baltic Sea away. (Well, technically Amazon.de has free deliveries too – you just need to buy order at least 99€ worth of them at once)

"They also deliver worldwide for free.". They calculate shipping in the price. So depending on where you are you will see different price of the book. Still, the only option to get many english books shipped to a big part of the world.

Well, "extremely cheap" shipping then. I had that 13.18€ Amazon.de book pre-ordered on Book Depository for 14.00€. So the Amazon.de delivery is 12 times the cost of the Book Depository shipping cost.

Had to order it from a local retailer instead since it releases in June, where it cost me 16.10€ with shipping.

Re: Amazon to close Book Depository online shop

#46

Post by lancesells »

electroagenda wrote: post #44
activitypea wrote: post #18

There are no words for how much this sucks. If you are outside the US/EU, reasonably priced books in english aren't easy to find. CompSci literature in English? Forget it, buddy. Book Depository had decent prices with free international shipping to most of the world. Sure, I have to wait a month and sometimes they have to reship because it got damaged in transport, but if I need a book immediately Library Genesis is…

What about abebooks?

Amazon owns it so who knows how much longer that stays around.

Re: Amazon to close Book Depository online shop

#48

Post by rcarr »

This does suck for obvious reasons, but I also think we need to get a good, thin, eInk tablet like Remarkable or Boox Note down to the sub 100 usd/gbp price. Kindles are ok but they’re too small for textbooks and you’re also locked into Amazon. Plus they’re read only (apart from the latest one), and the new generation of tablets around atm can serve as paper like notebooks as well as eReaders. I like reading paper books as much as the next guy but it is hard to justify sending millions of books each year all over the world when we could send them over the wire for a fraction of the cost and pollution.

Re: Amazon to close Book Depository online shop

#49

Post by adolph »

electroagenda wrote: post #44
activitypea wrote: post #18

There are no words for how much this sucks. If you are outside the US/EU, reasonably priced books in english aren't easy to find. CompSci literature in English? Forget it, buddy. Book Depository had decent prices with free international shipping to most of the world. Sure, I have to wait a month and sometimes they have to reship because it got damaged in transport, but if I need a book immediately Library Genesis is…

What about abebooks?

An “extraordinary and unprecedented” global protest from antiquarian booksellers has forced the Amazon-owned secondhand marketplace AbeBooks to backtrack on its decision to pull out of several countries.

AbeBooks had told bookshops in countries including Hungary, the Czech Republic, South Korea and Russia that it would no longer support them from 30 November, citing migration to a new payment service provider as the reason for the withdrawal. The move prompted almost 600 booksellers in 27 countries to pull more than 3.5m titles from Abebooks’ site, putting them on “vacation” as they cited the motto of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, “Amor librorum nos unit” (love of books unites us).

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/08/amazon-abebook...

Re: Amazon to close Book Depository online shop

#50

Post by thomond »

Hamuko wrote: post #28
gregdoesit wrote: post #24

I do wonder if Brexit and customs to be paid for all of the EU has anything to do with this decision. Book Depsitory is based in the UK. I have inadvertently ordered from them, to the Netherlands, as they had a “Bookdepository NL” store, which made it seem like they are an EU entity. However, when the book arrived, I was hit by unexpected customs charges that were half the price of the book. Looking at recent reviews…

I've never ever had to pay VAT at the customs for Book Depository orders in Finland. My most recent order came in March and I had a pre-order for June.

Are books VAT free in Finland? They are in the UK and Ireland so I have never had customs either (in Ireland). Perhaps they are not VAT free in NL.
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